With extreme gratitude, the Iowa Cancer Consortium Board of Directors and staff remember our longtime friend and colleague, Gail Orcutt (May 7, 1953 – May 19, 2020). We also recognize her extraordinary contribution to radon-control advocacy and cancer control in Iowa. Read more.

Do you ask your patients if they’ve tested their homes for radon?

“Educating patients about the risk, and promoting the use of radon test kits, is something everyone can so and should do.”

– Charles Lynch, M.D., Ph.D.

“I remember hum putting his face in his hands. He was sitting next to me out in his waiting room, and he just said, ‘Why don’t physicians know about this?'”

– Gail Orcutt, Pleasant Hill

“I want physicians personally to test their homes. We can really have an influence if we can get people to test. As physicians, we can model behavior that we’d like our patients to follow.”

-Timothy Vermillion, D.O.

New Draft Radon Guidance for Health Care Providers

The Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), Inc., with assistance of the Environmental Protection Agency and Dr. Bill Field, Professor in the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health, has developed a new guide for health care providers titled Reducing the Risk From Radon: Information and Interventions. This guide was designed to furnish health care providers with the information they need to reduce their patients’ expsoures to radon. Radon is estimated to cause about 21,100 lung cancer death per year and is the leading environmental cause of cancer mortality in the United States. Comments and questions can be directed to Dr. Bill Field at [email protected].

This guide contains:

Radon statistics and public health impact.

The science behind the risk estimates.

Radon testing and reduction.

Sample guidance for use in health care settings.

The roles of health care providers in reducing the burden of radon-induced lung cancer.

Click on the image above for more information about the guidelines.

Click on the image above to view and print the complete guide.

The following videos explain how asking this important question could save lives:

The following webinar, originally recorded on February 4, 2015, explores the issue of radon from a healthcare perspective and shares best practices for incorporating radon education into a healthcare setting.

Free educational fliers and brochures to prompt discussion between physicians and patients:

Packets of 50 printed brochures or fliers may be ordered for free by emailing [email protected]. All materials may also be downloaded and printed at will.